Fresh, young faces in Left list, Subhasini Ali fielded from Barrackpore

Packing 26 new faces and nominating several young leaders, West Bengal's main opposition Left Front Wednesday announced its candidates list for the 42 Lok Sabha seats from the state.

Among the Left partners, Communist Party of India-Marxist nominees would be in fray for 32 seats, the Revolutionary Socialist Party in four, and All India Forward Bloc and Communist Party of India in three each, the combine's chairman Biman Bose announced at a media meet here.

Subhasini Ali - daughter of revolutionary Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army associates Prem Sahgal and Laxmi Sahgal - would be the CPI-M candidate from Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas district.

Ali, a former president of the CPI-M's women's arm All India Democratic Women's Association, was in 1989 elected to the Lok Sabha from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Economist and former state finance minister Asim Dasgupta would fight on a CPI-M ticket from Dum Dum in North 24 Parganas district, while the party's central committee member Mohammad Salim is set to contest from North Dinajpur district's Raiganj.

Basudeb Acharia, leader of the CPI-M in the Lok Sabha and a nine-time MP, has been pitted from his old constituency of Bankura. The voters of the constituency in Bankura district have been electing Acharia to the lower house of parliament since 1980.

Bose said the list included five doctors,and 26 new faces. Four of the current MPs also did not find a place in the list of candidates.

"Five of the candidates are medical practioners, 26 are new candidates, there are six women, and 12 representing miniority communities. Thirteen of the candidates are from scheduled castes/scheduled tribes," he said.

Bose said while selecting the candidates, stress was laid on choosing fresh faces and young leaders.

CPI-M candidate from Tamluk in East Midnapore district Ibrahim Ali has completed 25, while its nominee from Mathurapur in South 24 Parganas district R. Naskar is only 29 years old.

"A number of our candidates are below 40," said Bose.

A prominent parliamentarian who would not be seen in the next Lok Sabha is CPI's veteran trade unionist Gurudas Dasgupta, who had expressed his desire not to contest the polls this time. CPI leader Sanotsh Rana has bagged the ticket for West Midnapore district's Ghatal, which had elected Dasgupta in 2009.